I was born in Ocotlán, Jalisco on April 24, 1976.
There are three of us siblings, and I had the
good luck of being the middle child. I was always
a very restless boy. I signed up for karate classes
and lasted only one month because I got bored. Afterwards,
I joined a soccer team, and whenever I could, I
went out hunting with my uncles and cousins.

I studied
at a Catholic school that belonged to the parish. We
usually kicked off the year with a Mass in the
parish, and we started our classes each day with a
little prayer in the classroom. In my house, there was
a very Catholic atmosphere, and my mother set the tone.
I fondly remember how my mom would send me and
my brother to the children’s Mass on Saturdays. On Sundays,
she would often ask us what the priest had talked
about in the homily (to see if we had really
gone to Mass). When she found out, after a month
or two, that we just listened to the homily and
then went out to play, she changed the question: what
were the parish announcements about? If we couldn’t answer the
question, we had to go to Mass again.

The thought of
being a priest never crossed my mind, although I had
a cousin who was a diocesan priest. I sometimes served
as an altar boy at the parish, but it was
more because at the end the priest gave us something
to eat or let us go up into the bell
tower to touch the bells.

When I was in 6th grade,
four priests came to my classroom: two diocesan priests and
two Legionaries. I and four other classmates went to a
get-together day organized by Father Enrique Flores at the “Las

Margaritas” ranch in Tototlán. I had a great time, but
that was it. Before the end of the year, Father
Enrique came again and invited me to the summer convention
in the Legionary apostolic school of Ajusco. He explained that
it would be like the get-together day, but instead of
being one day, it would be the whole summer. It
seemed like a wonderful dream to me, and I said
yes.

Just for the SummerI never gave any importance to
this fact, and I had even forgotten it a few
days later. One day, a white car came and parked
outside my house, and my sister came over to the
neighbor’s house where I was playing to tell me that
there was a priest who was looking for me. I
thought she was probably pulling my leg, but I decided
to go check to see if it was true. It
was Father Enrique. The priest explained to my parents what
the summer convention was, and at the end of the
conversation my dad asked me a question that left me
frozen in place: “Aldo, do you want to go?” I
started to squirm in my chair. My eyes darted from
my father’s eyes to my mother’s eyes, and finally I
just looked at Father Enrique. Truth be told, I had
qualms about answering the priest with a straight “No.” It
seemed wrong to tell him no when I had told
him yes earlier. So I told the priest, “Yes, just
for the summer.” That was how I got to the
apostolic school of Ajusco, in Mexico City.

After the summer convention,
my parents came to pick me up but I didn’t
want to go. I wanted to stay to do my
high school studies right there. My dad gave me a
dirty look, but at the end he let me. My
mom embraced me as they were leaving and said: “Son,
if you are happy, I am happy.” This answer from
my mother impressed me, because I knew that it was
harder for her than for anyone.

My four years in the
apostolic school were marvelous. I never felt the call of
God directly; an angel never appeared to me to confirm
the call, and there was never any extraordinary event. Everything
was normal. At home, I knew that I had to
earn my dad’s permission, since some of my relatives thought
it was wrong for me to go to the seminary
at such a young age. I had it clear that
I was where I belonged, and that I was where
I had to be. It was an interior sentiment.

My
Family Receives the GraceThe day came to make the
jump to Europe; I had to go to Salamanca for
my novitiate. Then came the trial by fire: getting my
dad’s permission. On my home visits, I had already had
some “rounds” with him on the topic, but I always
stayed firm in my decision, and I think sometimes I
was actually stubborn. And my dad always respected me. I
remember that once when my parents came to visit me,
they came out of the rector’s office in tears after
speaking with him. I have very seldom seen my father
cry, so I understood that something had happened. He came
to me, hugged me, and told me to count on
his support.

Little by little, God was giving my dad and
other relatives the grace to accept my vocation. I didn’t
choose or look for the vocation; I simply tried to
respond to a call from God by always doing his
will. It’s not that everything has been easy or that
there were no difficulties afterwards. One tries to respond, to
be generous… and God has always been understanding, good, and
patient.

This Is My PlaceAfter finishing my novitiate and humanities
in Salamanca, I went to Rome to start studying philosophy.
After my second year of philosophy, I went to work
in Monterrey at the apostolic school. It was very beautiful
to be able to come back to the same rector
who had been my superior during my years at the
apostolic school. I remember that he told me jokingly, “Now
you are going to do your penance for all the
suffering you caused me,” and we laughed together. After three
months, I was moved to Mexico City to work in
the territorial directorate for four years. Those years were truly
a grace because I was able to see the needs
of the Church and of the Legion closer up. It’s
like seeing a beautiful landscape from a mountaintop where you
can appreciate the view in a way that you can’t
when you’re down below.

During these 19 years, ever since
I entered the apostolic school, I have always felt the
same experience that I felt from the start: that this
is my place and that I am at home. It
has been like embarking on an adventure that never ends.
Every day, every year, there are new experiences that have
helped me to mature and grow in that response. The
important thing is always to have that attitude of generosity,
of openness to God’s plan. God is much greater than
us and he has a plan marked out that we
can’t imagine. Our part is to follow that plan, to
have faith and confidence in him. God is faithful and
God doesn’t let us down.

Father Aldo Sahagún is the second
son in a family of three children. He was born
in Ocotlán, Jalisco, on April 24 of 1976.He entered the
apostolic school of the Legion of Christ in Ajusco, Mexico
in 1988. Afterwards, he was moved to Salamanca, Spain where
he did his novitiate and humanistic studies. He worked for
a time as a formator of minor seminarians and also
in the territorial secretariat of Mexico City. He studied philosophy
and theology at the Regina Apostolorum in Rome, where he
is currently studying for his licentiate in moral theology.